New writer-in-residence announced

Andy Jones

By Janet Harron

Don’t be surprised if Memorial’s writer-in-residence
program has a slight theatrical bent this fall. Andy Jones, star of
stage and screen and one of Canada’s finest storytellers, has
been named to the position and he couldn’t be more
pleased.

“I’m looking forward to promoting the role of
playwright as writer,” said Mr. Jones, who was awarded an
honorary degree in 2000. He laments the fact that since the work of
playwrights tends to be produced rather than published, the public
often doesn’t think of playwrights as writers.

“The work is fulfilling its real purpose in a sense by being
produced,” he explained but acknowledges that since his work
hasn’t been published extensively and he doesn’t work
as a novelist, people don’t tend to recognize him as a
writer.

As a founding member of CODCO and co-founder of the Resource Centre
for the Arts at the LSPU Hall, Mr. Jones has been a professional
writer and actor for over 30 years. He has written five critically
acclaimed one-man comedy shows: Out of the Bin, Still Alive, King
O’ Fun, To the Wall, and An Evening with Uncle Val. With the
CODCO collective he wrote five full-length theatre pieces: Cod On a
Stick, Sickness Death and Beyond the Grave, Das Capital,
Pocketcrumbs, and The Tale Ends.

Mr. Jones has also had major roles in several films, including Rare
Birds and Young Triffie. His numerous awards include two Gemini
awards, Emmy and Genie nominations, election to the Newfoundland
Arts Council Hall of Honour, the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts
Council’s Award of Excellence, and the ACTRA Award of
Excellence for Lifetime Achievement.

According to Mary Dalton, poet and professor of English, Mr. Jones
is “without a doubt one of our most brilliant and
accomplished writers. His theatre pieces are major contributions to
Newfoundland literature, informed by a sense of the traditional
culture and of the contemporary questions that preoccupy us. His
recent work in adapting traditional folk tales is also an important
achievement. We are very fortunate to have him as our
writer-in-residence this year.”

Although Mr. Jones didn’t attend Memorial himself, he is full
of praise for the university and its facilities. In the fall of
2007 he even taught students in the Diploma in Performance and
Communications Media the ins and outs of mounting a play.

He singles out the opus Folktales of Newfoundland, the work of the
late Dr. Herbert Halpert and Dr. John Widdowson, as a seminal work
for those interested in Newfoundland stories. “They
transcribed all of the stories, just the way they were told,
including all the ums and ers. All the tapes are available in
MUNFLA and this is a fabulous resource for all of us.”

Mr. Jones’ latest book, The Queen of Paradise’s Garden,
is a traditional folktale taken from Folktales of Newfoundland. He
is currently performing the story as a puppet show for all ages
every Sunday in September at the Signal Hill Visitors Centre.

Mr. Jones loves the effect that storytelling has on people and the
effect it has on himself. The solitary act of writing is another
matter: “I much prefer writing with a team. I’ve done a
lot of writing alone since 2002 and seven years of that is
enough!”

Mr. Jones will be getting lots of team-writing time this fall. He
will be available for one-on-one manuscript consultations
throughout his term as writer-in-residence and is interested in
looking at all genres of writing but is particularly interested in
plays and scripts. To make an appointment for a consultation,
please contact him directly at ajones@nlfd.net or leave a message
on his office phone 737-6942.

Mr. Jones will give his first performance as writer-in-residence on
Oct. 1 at Petro Canada Hall at 8 p.m. Admission and parking is
free. On Nov. 23, he will give an afternoon workshop at the
Holyrood Library, followed by an evening performance there; both
events are free and open to the general public.

The Canada Council for the Arts, the Faculty of Arts and the
Department of English are sponsoring Mr. Jones’ four-month
stint as Memorial’s writer-in-residence for the fall 2009
term. The writer-in-residence serves as a resource for the entire
community, meeting with writers at any stage of development,
working in any genre. This service is provided free, and is
available to everyone, not just those with ties to the university.